Rail cleaner



Sept. 13, 1932. J, Ft MULLEN, JR 1,876,728

RAIL CLEANER Filed May 21, 1930 Patented Sept. 13, 193 2 UNITED s V.mmnsr. MULLEN, Ja., on- CHICAGO,` vILLInoIs Appucation filea May 21, iso.,serialiV 454,12`41,

This inventon relates to d ing snow and ice and other evices forcleanthings ofi the rails or other electrical conductors ofelectricallyoperated railways.

53 Generally stated, the obje ot of the inven- 'vtion is to providenovel and improved means for efiectively removingthe snow or ice orother deposits from the third rail of an electric railway,

or from any 'other electrical conductor, from which the cars derivecurrent for the operation of the vmotors thereof, thereby to insureeffective contact between the said third rail or other electricalconductor and the shoe or other engaglng cars. VTo the foregoing andother useful ends,

the inventon consists in the after set forth and element of said mattershereinclaimed, and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which,-

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the truck portion of anelectrically-operated street railroad car, showing a device for removingthe snow or ice, rail of the system embodyin 5 of the inventon.

or other things,

from the third g the principles Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation ofsaid device, showlng certain portions thereof `in Vertical section. Fig.3 is a plan view of the Fig. 2 of the drawing, with device shown incertaln portlons broken away for convenience of illustration.

As thus illustrated, the

prises a bracket 1 pivoted at plate 3, which latter is suitab truck 4:of the car. suitably mounted upon said Vertical tube 6 tion of saidbracket lis disposed vertically to slide up and down in said inventoncom- 2 on a bracket ly secured to the An electric motor 5 is bracket 1,and a is screwed into the lower por- 1, as shown. A shaft 7 tube,inposition therein, being provided with a fixed shoulder portion 8, asshown. A coil spring 9 is interposed between the portion S and thelowerside of the motor 5, tending to press the shaft downw end ofthreaded cap 10, as shown, sired, the tube 6 can A horizontal disk orcutter ably secured to the lower por ard. Thelower the tube 6 isprovided with a screwwhereby, if debe filled with a lubricant.V

wheel 11 is suittion of the shaft ;A coil spring -7, in position to restfiatwise upon the top of i' the third rail 12 ofthe railway system. Thisrail'12, of course, is the source ofpower for Vdriving the motor car,and `for changing the motor 5, very obviously. This disk 11? ispreferably provided with peripheral teeth 13 for Cutting vthe snow'orice, o r other deposits, away from the top of said rail. 4

14: is preferablyl interposed between the bracket 1 and the bracketplate *8, below the pivot; 2, this spring tending to ltiltv the 'motorand cutterV into the position shown l.in dotted lines at'l in Fig. 1.Said spring mounted lonastop' 16 between the bracket l'andthe plate 3,'which stop limits the rearward tilting-'motion of the' motor tiltingdevice, Whereby in operation the motor and Cutting device assume theposition shown in full'lines in lfig-V 1 and2 of the drawing.`l

However, as soon as the cutting device or Cleaning device, thus shownand described, is brought over the gap '17 in the third rail, the saiddevice then assumes the position shown in dotted lines at 15 so that' itmay ride up the incline at the side of the gap which it is approaching,and then swung down into Vertical position, as shown, the cutter 11moving upwardly against the pressure of *the spring 9 in a manner thatwill be readily understood. ao Thus, the shoe or contact member 18 ofthe car travels on the third rail 12, directly behind the Cutting andCleaning device 11, and any snow or ice on the rail, or even otherdeposits, will be cut away directly Vin front of said shoe, whereby thelatter 'will have contact with the scraped or cleaned top lof the rail,it being understood that the motor 5 rotates the shaft 7 and the cutter11 in the direction indicated by the arrow in 3 of the drawings. Theelectric motor car, of course, will travel in the direction indicated bythe arrow in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

What I claim as my inventon is:

1. An electrical motive power system 19-5 wherein the current fordriving a motor vehicleis derived by trolley shoe contact with a thirdrail, vcharacterized by an ice cutter in the form of' a wheel having aflat lower side adapted to slide on said rail, having its peripheryprovided With Cutting teeth to cut the ice ofi' the rail, mounted onlthe vehicle to rotate about a vertically disposed axis in front of thetrolley shoe, with an electric motor in a-xial alinement with said icecutter for the operation thereof.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said motor forming a supportwhereby said ice cutter is mounted on the vehicle.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said motor forming a supportWhereby said ice cutter is mounted on the vehicle, with a yieldingspring cushion connection between said motor and ice cutter, serving topress the flat 'ower side of the cutter against the top of `the rail.v

4. A structure as specified in claim 1, said motor forming a supportWhereby said ice cutter is mounted onvthe vehicle, with spring means anda horizontal pivot for said motor, Whereby to automatically tilt theforward edge lof the cutter upward while crossing a. gap in the thirdrail.

5. A structureV as specified in claim 1, said motor forming a supportwhereby said ice cutter is mounted on the vehicle, with spring means anda horizontal pivot for said motor, Whereby to automatically tilt theforward edge of the cutter upward while crossing a i -gap in the thirdrail, with spring means on said axis to cushion the downward pressure ofthe cutter on the rail. i

Specification signed thislth day of May,

JAMEs F. MULLEN, JR. i

